CAUSES OF

ABNORMAL

BEHAVIOUR

PRESENTED BY: SHUBHRA MISHRA

• Abnormal behaviour may be defined as

behaviour that is disturbing (socially

unacceptable), distressing, maladaptive and

often the result of distorted thoughts

(cognitions)

INTRODUCTION

• The causation of any particular behaviour pattern is tremendously

complex and even with the information we do have it all but

impossible to predict how given circumstances will affect given

individuals.

• Contemporary research findings in the biological and social sciences

have greatly advanced our understanding of the causes of abnormal

behaviour

• Before considering these causal factors let us take a moment to

broaden our perspective on causation

PERSPECTIVE ON

CAUSATION • With regard to personality development and

adjustment, it established a framework for

examining the causes of abnormal behaviour

a) It can be regarded as the outcome of faulty

development

b) Severe stress

c) Combination of both

• In attempting to analysed the causal

factors, it will be helpful to briefly

review :

a) Differing viewpoints of causation

b) Changing views of causal relationships

DIFFERING

VIEWPOINTS

• Medical model

• Psychodynamic model

• Behaviouristic Model

• Cognitive Model

• Sociocultural Model

• Humanistic Model

• Interpersonal Model

The medical

perspective…..

• Those who hold a medical perspective focus

on biological and physiological factors as causes

of abnormal behaviour, which is treated as a

disease, or mental illness, and is diagnosed

through symptoms and cured through treatment.

Hospitalization and drugs are often preferred

methods of treatment rather than psychological

investigation.

The psychodynamic

perspective…

• The psychodynamic perspective, proposed

as an alternative to the medical model, evolved

from Freudian psychoanalytic theory, which

contends that psychological disorders are the

consequence of anxiety produced by unresolved,

unconscious conflicts. Treatment focuses on

identification and resolution of the conflicts.

The behavioural

perspective…

• Those exposing a behavioural

perspective contend that abnormal behaviour

results from faulty or ineffective learning and

conditioning. Treatments are designed to reshape

disordered behaviour and, using traditional

learning procedures, to teach new, more

appropriate, and more adaptive responses.

The cognitive

perspective…

• According to the cognitive perspective, people engage in abnormal behaviour because of particular thoughts and behaviours that are often based upon their false assumptions. Treatments are oriented towards helping the maladjusted individual develop new thought processes and new values. Therapy is a process of unlearning maladaptive habits and replacing them with more useful ones.

The social‐cultural

perspective… • From the social‐cultural perspective,

abnormal behaviour is learned within a social

context ranging from the family, to the

community, to the culture. Cultural variables,

acquired through learning and cognitive

processes, are believed to be important in

producing abnormal behaviour.

•

Humanistic

perspective

• They are more concerned primarily with stress

situations that involve a threat to the individual

and therefore elicit anxiety. If the individuals

cope effectively with the stress situation, anxiety

is eliminated. However if the stress and anxiety

continue, the individual typically resorts to

various ego-defence mechanisms such as denial

and rationalization.

Interpersonal

perspective

• Concentrates on unsatisfactory interpersonal

relationships as being the root of maladaptive

behaviour. Such roots may extend back to

childhood as when the child‘s self concept was

distorted by significant others who appraised

him as being worthless or when rigid

socialization measures made it difficult to accept

and integrate the ―bad me‖ into his self concept.

CHANGING VIEWS

OF CAUSAL

RELATIONSHIPS

• Primary cause

• Predisposing cause

• Precipitating cause

• Reinforcing cause

• PRIMARY CAUSE: It is the condition without which

the disorder would not have occurred

• PREDISPOSING CAUSE: It Is the condition that

comes before and paves the way for later

psychopathology

• PRECIPITATING CAUSE: It is a condition that proves

too much for the individual and triggers the

maladaptive behaviour.

• REINFORCEMENT CAUSE: It is a condition that leads

to maintain maladaptive behaviour already present

FACTORS OF

ABNORMAL

BEHAVIOUR

Biological, psychosocial and social

cultural factors play a role in causing

maladaptive behaviour either by

producing faulty development or by

increasing stress or both

Five factors

a. Genetic defects

b. Constitutional liabilities

c. Physical deprivation

d. Disruptive emotional processes

e. Brain pathology

BIOLOGICAL

FACTORS

• Biological factors influence all aspect of our

behaviour

• Diseases, malnutrition, injuries and other

conditions that interfere with normal development

and functioning are potential causes of abnormal

behaviour

GENETIC DEFECTS

a. Chromosomal aberrations

b. Faulty genes

c. Genetic predispositions to

specific mental disorders

a. Chromosomal

aberrations

• Forty-six chromosomes in the nucleus of each normal being

• Encoded in the chromosomes is the hereditary plan

• When fertilizations takes place the normal inheritance of the

new individual consists of twenty-three pairs of chromosomes

–one of each pair being from the mother and one from the

father

• Twenty-two pairs of these chromosomes are known as

autosomes-which determine body characteristics

• The remaining pair, the sex chromosomes

• When the chromosomes are deficient in

specific genetic information the result may

be colour blindness , Down ‗s syndrome

• Down‘s Syndrome: A type of mental

retardation in which the individual haas

slanting eyes, a flat face, and other

characteristics that produce a superficial

resemblance to Mongolian.

b. Faulty genes • Each chromosome is made up of a long molecule of

DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid)

• Scientist have shown that our genetic instructions are stored in

this DNA

• Genes carry the instructions for specific body traits such as eye

colour and blood type

• Two types of genes: (a)Dominant genes : Their

instructions are followed even if the other member of the pair

carries contradictory instructions

(b)Recessive genes :Genes whose instructions are not followed

unless the individual has inherited two such genes one from each

parent

c. Genetic predisposition to

specific mental disorder

• Although marked advances have been made in

the identification of faulty genes, most of the

information we have concerning the role of

genetic factor in mental disorder is based on

family studies

Constitutional

liabilities

It denotes the relatively enduring biological makeup of

the individual resulting from both genetic and

environmental influences. The traits that are included in

this category:

a. Physique

b. Physical handicaps

c. Vulnerability to stress

Physical deprivation

A wide range of physical deprivations may act as

predisposing or precipitating causes in mental disorders.

For our immediate purpose we shall focus briefly on two

categories :

a. Malnutrition

b. Sleep deprivation and fatigue

Disruptive Emotional

Processes

• We have noted that emotional processes like fear and anger

represent the mobilization of body resources to meet

emergency situation. Such a mobilization of recourses either

enables a threatened organism either to fight or to flee

• In modern civilization, however we are rarely confronted with

situations that can be met adequately by simple physical attack

or flight

• Yet we have not experience a comparable reduction in our

emotional excitability, we still become mobilizes=d for physical

fight or attack when we feel endangered or threatened

Brain Pathology

• About one half of the patients in mental hospitals are suffering

from mental disorders associated with toxic or organic brain

pathology

• The body produces antibodies to defend itself against invading

viruses and other microorganism, similarly, the brain has special

forms to reaction to stress in comparison with other organs

• Stress may disrupt the delicate biochemistry of the brain with

adverse consequences for certain predisposed individuals

PSYCHOSOCIAL

FACTORS

• Maternal Deprivation

• Pathogenic Family

• Early psychic trauma

• Disorder Interpersonal relationships

• Key Stresses of modern life

Maternal Deprivation

• Faulty development has often been observed in

infants deprived of maternal stimulation( or

mothering) as a consequence of either:

a. Separation from the mother and placement in

the institution

b. Lack of adequate mothering

a. Institution: There is likely to be less warmth

and physical contact, less in intellectual,

emotional and social stimulation and lack of

encouragement and help in positive learning

b. Lack of adequate mothering: The effects of

maternal deprivation vary considerably from

infant to infant and babies in other societies

appear to thrive under widely differing

conditions of maternal case

• The actual nature and extent of the damage

resulting from maternal deprivation appear to

depend:

a. the age at which deprivation first occur

b. The extent and duration of such deprivations

c. The constitutional makeup of the infant

d. The substitute care

Pathogenic Family

Pattern

• Faulty parent-child relationship:

a. Rejection

b. Over protection and restrictiveness

c. Over permissiveness and indulgence

d. Unrealistic demands

e. Faulty discipline

f. Communication failure

g. Undesirable parental models

Pathogenic

Structures

• Maladaptive family structure

a. The inadequate family: This type of family is

characterized by inability to cope with the

ordinary problems of family living

b. The disturbed family: Because of personal

instability interact with others in ways that is

destructive to others a well as themselves

c. The anti social family: This type of family

espouses values not accepted by the wide

community

d. The disrupted family: Disrupted families

are incomplete whether as a result of death,

divorce, separation or any other conditions

Early Psychic

Trauma ―I believe the most traumatic experience of my life

happened on April evening when I was eleven. I was not too

sure of how I had become a member of the family, although

my parents had thought it was wise to tell me that I was

adopted. That much I knew, but the term adopted meant

was something else entirely. One evening after my step

brother and I retired, he proceeded to explain it to me-

with a vehemence I shall never forget. He made it clear that

I was not a ‗real‘ member of the family., that my parents did

not wanted me around. That was the night that I vividly

recall crying myself to sleep. That experienced undoubtedly

played a major role in making me feel insecure and inferior‖

• Such traumas are kept to leave psychological wounds that never

completely heal

• The following will lead us in understanding the process why later

stress that reactivates these early wounds is apt to be particularly

difficult:

a. Conditioned responses are readily established in situations that

evoke strong emotions such responses are often highly resistant

to extinction

b. Conditioned emotional responses stemming from traumatic

experiences may generalize to other situations

c. Traumatic situations result in emotional conditioning rather than in

responses learned through reasoning and problem solving

Pathogenic

Interpersonal

Relationships People differ markedly in their ability to give and receive

love. Nevertheless marital and other intimate relationships

do represent a major source of need fulfilment in the lives

of the most people .

Marital Instability: For most of us the quest for an

intimate relationship with another person takes the form

of marriage and the great majority of people in society

will marry at some time in their lives and attempt to

established a happy home.

Types of Pathogenic

Relationships

a. Fraudulent interpersonal contracts :

Characterized by involving or proceeding from fraud as actions, methods or gains.

This involves the terms of the relationship being violated by one person in such a way to exploit the other.

Continued…… Such patterns may take a variety of forms but Carson(1969), has delineated a common underlying sequence that may be summarised as follows • A offers B a type of relationship or ―contract‖ in which B is

interested because it seems to offer favourable possibilities for need satisfaction.

• B indicates acceptance of the terms of the contract and precedes with activities appropriate to carrying out the terms agreed upon.

• A then assumes a stance that makes it justify to alter the term of the contract .

• To maintain the relationship B is forced to accept the new terms thus enable A to achieve the type of relationship he or she was presumably aiming for in the first time.

b. Collusion: (secret or illegal cooperation or

conspiracy in order to deceive others)

In collusion a relationship is established and

maintained only because the partners agree

to follow certain maladaptive rules and

norms of their own choosing, rather than

socially established adaptive ones

One person usually take the initiative in

outlining the rules and norms which both

partners are then expected to follow .

c. Discordant interpersonal patterns:

Serious and continued dissension, disagreements and conflicts are detrimental to the quality and stability of the relationship as well as to the persons involved .

• One or both partners who are not gaining satisfaction from the relationship may express feelings such as frustrations and disillusionment in hostile ways such as nagging, and doing things purposely to annoy the other person.

Severe Stress

Devaluating Frustrations: In contemporary life there are a number of frustrations that lead to self-devaluation and hence particularly develop to cope with it. Among these are:

a. Failures

b. Losses

c. Personal limitations and lack of resources

d. Guilt

e. Loneliness

SOCIOCULTURAL

FACTORS

There are other characteristic of our time and place in

history that put stress directly or indirectly on most of

us.

Among these are:

I. War and Violence

II. Group Prejudice and discrimination

III. Economic and Employment problems

IV. Rapid social change

WAR and VIOLENCE

Although wars have sometimes been

necessary to achieve or maintain freedom and

human rights, the conditions of warfare have

placed great stress on large numbers of

people.

While small wars and civil violence continue

to smoulder on our planet we have also

witnesses an ever-increasing rate of violent

crime in our own society.

GROUP PREJUDICE

and

DISCRIMINATIONS

• One of the most destructive form of group

prejudice is that of racial discrimination.

• Comparison on the basis of the economic status.

• Poverty often interferes with the development

not only of intelligence but also of healthy

personality.

Value Conflicts

Values play a key role in determining our ―choices‖.

If our value assumptions are unclear or

contradictory we are likely to experience difficulties

in making choices and direct in behaviour:

a. Conformity vs. Unconformity

b. Caring vs. non involvement

c. Avoiding vs. facing reality

d. Fearfulness vs. positive action

e. Integrity vs. self advantage

Pressures of Modern

Life

• Competition

• Educational, Occupational and

family demands

• Complexity and pace of modern

living

ECONOMIC and EMPLOYMENT

PROBLEMS

• Unemployment and job satisfaction are sources

of stress for many people.

• Extensive unemployment are typically

accompanied by increases in certain types of

maladaptive behaviour such as depression,

suicide and crime.

• Hardest hit by economic and employment

problems—handicapped by poorer education,

poorer nutrition, etc.

• For many people who are employed, a

major source of stress is job

dissatisfaction.

• Leads to anxiety, tension and a wide range

of psychosomatic disorders and impaired

marital and family relationships.

RAPID SOCIAL

CHANGE

The rate and pervasiveness of change

today are different from anything our

ancestors have experienced.

As a result many people in our society are

groping about, bewildered and bitter being

unable to find satisfying values to guide

their lives.

Thank YOU!!!!